In recent years, there has been widely used a new category of AV (Audio Visual) equipment and the like, for example, a hard disk recorder, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorder and the like.
Each piece of the equipment is normally equipped with a remote controller. Therefore, each time new piece of equipment is purchased, the number of remote controllers in the house is increased. For example, in a general household, there are already remote controllers for a television receiver, a VTR (Video Tape Recorder), audio equipment or the like.
Moreover, the number of personal computers having a television program playback function and a music playback function or various home electric appliances such as an air conditioner and lighting equipment, which can be operated by a remote controller, show a tendency to increase. Some households may have a considerable number of remote controllers.
Therefore, various types of technique enabling to manage such a plurality of remote controllers in an integrated manner has conventionally been proposed.
For example, in Japanese Patent application Publication No. 2002-16990 discloses a technique such that downloading display screen information of a remote controller and displaying a remote controller image based on it so as to allow the addition of a function of the remote controller.
Moreover, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-319177, a technique for allowing easy detection of equipment to be controlled in the case where a plurality of pieces of equipment can be so controllable by a single remote controller is disclosed.
In the above-mentioned techniques, however, if equipment to be controlled is detected, a remote controller image for controlling the equipment is merely displayed on a screen of the remote controller. Therefore, there is a problem that the equipment cannot be efficiently operated.
For example, in the case where a plurality of equipment is detected, if only a plurality of remote controller images for controlling the respective equipment are simultaneously displayed on a single screen, it takes a long time for a user to recognize the remote controller images and an approach to be taken for the equipment to be operated based on them. Therefore, the equipment cannot be efficiently operated. Moreover, some of such displays may possibly induce an erroneous operation of a user.